Dispensers of this kind are frequently used in private households and on different kinds of public premises such as toilets, restaurants, hospitals, industries etc. The dispenser may be mounted on a wall or other support in a vertical or horizontal position with the dispenser opening in coaxial alignment with the longitudinal axis of the enclosed roll. It may also be portable to be carried along. Both for stationary and portable dispensers the paper web is extracted in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the roll and is torn against the tearing means, such as a toothed edge, of the dispenser opening. Dispensing the paper from the centre of the roll has several advantages as compared to unwinding the paper from the periphery of the roll, since the roll can remain stationary in the dispenser and the only thing that needs to be displaced is the pulled out length of paper web.
WO 81/02880 discloses a stationary dispenser for centre-fed paper rolls, where the web is extracted at the upper end of the dispenser. The web path is first straight upwards and is then drawn around an edge portion to exit the dispenser through a dispenser opening located at the side of the dispenser. The dispenser opening has tearing means for tearing off desired lengths of the paper web.
SE-C-519 199 discloses a single use portable dispenser for a centre-fed paper roll. The dispenser comprises a casing, for example a plastic film, enclosing the roll and provided with a dispenser opening in one end wall. The dispenser opening has a substantially round or square configuration and comprises tearing means.
JP-A-2003-290074 discloses a portable dispenser for a toilet paper roll where the paper roll is unwound from its periphery and the paper web is drawn out through a dispenser opening in the side wall of the dispenser. The dispenser opening is provided with a tear bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,002,668 discloses a portable dispenser for relatively thick bands of fluffy fibrous materials, especially cotton in strip form. The cotton strips are folded in a zigzag configuration and is withdrawn from the dispenser through a dispenser opening in a top wall of the dispenser. The dispenser opening is elongated and has one relatively smooth longitudinal side and one longitudinal side provided with a plurality of teeth. The width of the dispenser opening is approximately equal to or slightly less than the thickness of the cotton strip, so that the strip is prevented from falling back into the dispenser after a length of strip material has been torn off.